Thickness measurement of soft thin films on periodically patterned magnetic substrates by phase difference magnetic force microscopy

The need for accurate measurement of the thickness of soft thin films is continuously encouraging the development of techniques suitable for this purpose. We propose a method through which the thickness of the film is deduced from the quantitative measurement of the contrast in the phase images of the sample surface acquired by magnetic force microscopy, provided that the film is deposited on a periodically patterned magnetic substrate. The technique is demonstrated by means of magnetic substrates obtained from standard floppy disks. Colonies of Staphylococcus aureus adherent to such substrates were used to obtain soft layers with limited lateral (a levy microns) and vertical (hundreds of n…